What are the scenarios you envision for such a discussion? Since any event that would cause the United States to melt down into anarchy would immediately cause China to "intervene", are you envisioning a "Red Dawn" sort of scenario?
I am pretty firmly on the side of people who consider this a childish fantasy. If our governmental system melted down, there far too many powerful state actors who would sweep into the vacuum.
Obviously too, I disagreed with your dismissal of the 7.62mm NATO: it's common, available, penetrates cover effectively (brick walls, heavy brush, sandbags, vehicles - even concrete gravestones) and is as accurate as the platform you fire it from. During my youth, I broke the range record at Puuloa Rifle Range by firing 34 consecutive V-ring (5 inch circle) bullseyes at 600m with match M-14, iron sights. I'm pretty sure the record stands today.
I carried the M-14 for 17 months in combat and refused the M-16 when those things showed up - luckily for me.
I think we both run on with words, don't we?
I do like to talk :)
I will start with the .308 question. I certain don’t dismiss the round at all - it would be nice to be able to out-range your opponent. My first point with it is that people often get caught up in the newest fanciest round that might do some things a tad bit better but require either handloading to keep it economical or that is otherwise uncommon in the area. I prefer the KISS theory when it comes to weapons platforms. The other area where I touch on the .308 is the AR-15 vs AR-10 debate, and in that aspect I believe that it is situationally dependent. I have an AR-10 along side my AR-15s, and they both serve a purpose. If I were doing a walking patrol as a member of a Community Defense Force, I have to balance the extra weight of the rounds and gun vs need (I can already here the “do extra PT arguments from here). If I am a fixed roadblock, gimme an AR-10 to outrange my opponent from a fixed position. Again, I don’t dismiss any round or weapon system - I advocate heavily for the mighty .22LR. My entire point was that you need to consider some of these things before making a decision, and then make your decision.
What do I envision? I think that Matt Bracken’s book trilogy “Enemies Foreign and Domestic” paint one realistic picture of what might come our way. Economics and culture war are my two big fears, and when this thing gets moving in the wrong direction, it will go downhill fast. Assuming a slow grid-up collapse, as the $$ spigots run dry, EBTs start being rejected and the economy grinds to a halt. I don’t mean a 2008 recession - I mean the BIG ONE that will involve discussions around sovereign debt levels. Riots and social unrest will be common, and systems disruptions stemming from our Just In Time delivery systems may occur.
If we are hit with any level of first strikes leading up to the inevitable war with China on critical infrastructure (i.e. electrical or SCADA systems) with cyber attacks (a la STUXNET re-engineering to bite us in the ass) or EMP, all bets are off on civility.
Sure, the authorities will step in - but not initially. And while I certainly see the dangers of China, they have no ability to truly project power yet (though they are slated to supposedly build some nuclear powered carriers by 2035 I believe). They are focused on regional power project within the innermost chain of the islands in the South China Sea (i.e. Spratly Islands). If they ever came here, they would wait some time for the chaos to truly seize and destroy us internally as a country before offering “emergency funding or supplies”.
I did do a previous post on this topic based off of what I read in another article. Given your assertion that any such breakdown of governmental systems would warrant intervention by powerful state actors, you may disagree with my thoughts there as well, and I doubt either would be able to convince the other. I will just say that I think you are overestimating the ability of the “powerful state actors” to maintain the level of control I believe you are suggesting they will.
https://www.americanpartisan.org/2019/01/the-fourth-turning-the-future-as-i-see-it-by-patriotman/
As my tagline states, I am not an expert by any means. My contributions at American Partisan are from the perspective of a not-so-experienced J.Q Public citizen and meant to generate discussion, debate, and hopefully give people stuff to think about as they make their own decisions on some of these choices.
God Bless.